Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wet treatment apparatus which can be divided and assembled, and to a substrate treatment apparatus provided with the same.
Description of the Related Art
In a process of manufacturing a semiconductor wafer, conventionally, a CMP (Chemical Mechanical Polishing) apparatus is used in order to polish and flatten the surface of the semiconductor wafer.
This CMP apparatus is generally provided with a polishing table for rotating a polishing pad, a top ring for pressing a substrate (semiconductor wafer) to the polishing pad, and a dressing ring for dressing the polishing pad. The CMP apparatus polishes the substrate by supplying a polishing liquid which contains a polishing material, to the upper face of the polishing pad from a slurry line, and bringing the substrate held by the top ring into contact with the polishing pad on the rotating polishing table, and also dresses and regenerates the surface of the polishing pad which has finished polishing by bringing the dressing ring into contact with the polishing pad.
Furthermore, a conveying apparatus is occasionally installed in parallel to this CMP apparatus. This conveying apparatus, for instance, receives the substrate from a cassette which accommodates the substrate therein, and delivers the substrate to the top ring of the CMP apparatus. The substrate of which the treatment has been finished is received by the conveying apparatus again, is dried, for instance, in a drying apparatus, and is then accommodated by the cassette.
In the substrate treatment apparatus in which a liquid is used in the treatment process, as in this CMP apparatus, a wet treatment apparatus having a waterproofing pan is provided in order to prevent the leakage of the liquid.
FIG. 6 is a schematic side view illustrating an example of a conventional wet treatment apparatus.
As is illustrated in FIG. 6, the wet treatment apparatus 100 is provided with a base frame 101 having high rigidity for mounting the main body of the substrate treatment apparatus and the conveying apparatus thereon, and a plurality (here, two) of waterproofing pans 102 which are designed so as to fit the size of the base frame 101 are arranged on the base frame 101 so that the ends thereof overlap one another. The waterproofing pan 102 is configured to be capable of receiving a treatment liquid thereinto which has been used in the substrate treatment, and prevents the treatment liquid from leaking to the outside of the apparatus.
Thus, the waterproofing pan 102 is arranged on the base frame 101 having high rigidity, and thereby prevents a waterproofing function of the substrate treatment apparatus from deteriorating due to a damage of the waterproofing pan 102 originating from the transportation, carrying in and installation of the substrate treatment apparatus to a semiconductor manufacturing plant, further a trial operation, and the like.
Furthermore, in addition to this wet treatment apparatus, such a method is also known to arrange a plurality of waterproofing pans on one base frame so as to be separated from each other and to cover a space between the ends of the separated waterproofing pans with another member.
However, the semiconductor manufacturing plant is designed so as to accept only the apparatus which satisfies an apparatus size and a standard weight value specified by a SEMI-E72 Standard, and in recent years, the size of the substrate treatment apparatus is increasing along with the increase in the size of a semiconductor wafer that is a treated substrate. Accordingly, it becomes difficult to carry the substrate treatment apparatus into a clean room of the semiconductor manufacturing plant, and to move the apparatus in the clean room.
For this reason, in order to make the apparatus size compliant with the SEMI-E72 Standard, and convey the wet treatment apparatus to the clean room, it is necessary to divide and sub-modularize the base frame and the waterproofing pan.
However, the apparatus structure of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus such as the substrate treatment apparatus has been improved in order to minimize a foot print (occupation area of apparatus) and maximize productivity (number of treated substrate per hour/foot print), and accordingly the apparatus structure is complicated. In the case of the substrate treatment apparatus having the wet treatment apparatus, in particular, the base frame and the waterproofing pan form complicated structures.
In the case where such a base frame and a waterproofing pan have been divided, when the divided base frames and waterproofing pans are carried into the clean room and are assembled, it is required to secure the waterproofing function in the divided portion of the waterproofing pan and facilitate assembly.
FIG. 7 is a view illustrating a process of assembling a conventional wet treatment apparatus which is provided with divided base frames and waterproofing pans.
As is illustrated in FIG. 7A, a wet treatment apparatus 110 has a first base frame 111 and a second base frame 112. In addition, the first base frame 111 has a first waterproofing pan 113 which is designed so as to fit the size of the first base frame 111 arranged thereon, and the second base frame 112 has a second waterproofing pan 114 which is designed so as to fit the size of the second base frame 112 arranged thereon.
Because these first waterproofing pan 113 and second waterproofing pan 114 keep their shapes by being supported by the first base frame 111 and the second base frame 112, it is difficult to separate the respective waterproofing pans from the first base frame 111 and the second base frame 112. In addition, as has been described above, in the case of the substrate treatment apparatus having the wet treatment apparatus, the base frame and the waterproofing pan form complicated structures. Specifically, in the present conventional example, the heights of the first base frame 111 and the second base frame 112 are different from each other, and the shapes of the waterproofing pans are also configured to be curved so as to fit the heights.
For this reason, in order to assemble these divided base frames and waterproofing pans so that the divided waterproofing pans are not damaged, the first base frame 111 is, for instance, hoisted with a not-shown crane, as is illustrated in FIG. 7B, and the first base frame 111 is arranged so as to be adjacent to the second base frame 112 so that the first waterproofing pan 113 and the second waterproofing pan 114 do not come in contact with each other, as is illustrated in FIG. 7C.
Subsequently, as is illustrated in FIG. 7D, the first base frame 111 is lowered so that the end of the first waterproofing pan 113 overlaps the end of the second waterproofing pan 114 from the above.
As has been described above, the process of connecting and assembling the divided base frames and waterproofing pans includes a step of connecting the base frame structures to each other, and a step of adjusting the divided faces of the waterproofing pans, and accordingly it becomes an extremely difficult and laborious operation to connect the base frames so that the divided faces of the waterproofing pans are not damaged. In addition, a gap is formed between the ends in a state in which the ends of the divided waterproofing pans just overlap one another, and accordingly a waterproofing effect has been insufficient.